Ascetic faith not an easy fit in modern America

The ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: October 5, 2013;Last modified: October 5, 2013 05:00AM

BUENA PARK, Calif. — The ancient Indian religion of Jainism, a close cousin of Buddhism, has often been a hard sell in the U.S. with a strict adherence to nonviolence that forbids eating meat, encourages days of fasting and places value on even the smallest of insects.

Now, younger Jains who resist the elaborate rituals of their parents, which include meditating 48 minutes a day and presenting statues of idols with flowers, rice and a saffron-and-sandalwood paste, are trying to reinterpret the traditions of their religion for 21st-century American life.

They are expanding the definition of nonviolence to encompass environmentalism, animal rights and corporate business ethics, flocking to veganism, volunteering alongside other faiths and learning to lobby through political internships and youth groups.

“Youth are a lot more interested in learning the why of things instead of just blindly following it,” said Priyal Gandhi, an 18-year-old from northern Virginia. “I don’t think we’ve lost the faith. I think it’s about finding new ways to adapt to it.”

Sacred life

The evolution, which recently was examined in a series of conferences at a new center for Jain studies, comes as many Jains who immigrated to the West are grappling with how to mesh the belief in nonviolence, which inspired Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., with modern life and its excesses.

Jains believe, for example, that even microbes in the air and water are sacred life and any action that impacts other living things — such as driving or using electricity — can add to bad karma.

Yet Jains, many of them top doctors, lawyers and businesspeople, use computers and cellphones and drive cars — and so they are increasingly seeking a compromise between their faith and practicality, said Whitny Braun, a bioethics and religion professor at Loma Linda University who has studied Jainism.

Modified approach

The faith’s most recent idol lived 2,500 years ago, but Jainism is much older.

“Jains are a critical part of the Indian fabric so there are ways to be a fully practicing Jain in India but here it’s very, very difficult so a lot of Jains adopt the attitude of, ‘Well, I’m going to do the best I can,’ ” she said. “I’ll be vegetarian or vegan, and if I can buy a Prius, I will.”

For the most part, elder Jains support the modified approach, but some worry their children will miss a deeper understanding without completing rituals that are so detailed that some Jains carry a small booklet with illustrated instructions.

Worshippers must shower, remove their shoes and change into loose-fitting, clean garments before approaching statues of 24 idols and must don a white mask to avoid breathing or spitting on the marble figures.

“All of the rituals have a real meaning that we’re supposed to bear in mind when we’re doing it. When I’m doing the cleansing with the water for the idol, my thought process is I’m also cleansing my soul that way,” said Hamendra Doshi, vice president of the Jain Center of Southern California.